Curiosity Finds A Frown (23 - EDO) by Stephen Weigel

Xenharmonic art-song. Several other art-songs are quoted either indirectly, melodically, or both (for example, the opening line is a sound-alike to Caro mio ben, and the steps in the same ratio to each other... which end up landing in very different spots in this scale). See how many you can find. The singer is addressing another person who exists in his/her life who has a capacity for joy and fascination, but who cannot face it for other reasons. Hopefully some of the same emotional content transmits.

These lyrics of mine capture the unique emotions that 6:7:11 chords give me, namely, that of a realization. The "realization" I get from these entities are best manifested as... disappointment in joylessness. It's a very specific, multi-meaning, gloomy, non-12-edo feeling, that isn't JUST xenharmonic. You know how when you were a kid, adults would be worried about everything, and you never knew why, but it made you sad? That would be a helpful association. This song has been performed at multiple venues in Indiana and Chicago.

The 11-note mode used is 6L 5s - wickedly difficult for beginners to sing, but wildly interesting-sounding, giving abundant 6:7:11 chords. The song modulates a 23edo step (1\23) higher about halfway through, and all 23 pitches are used at least once; the 11-note 6L 5s twice, plus an extra chromatic note. Other chromatic notes to 6L 5s exist in the main passages anyway, acting like borrowed chords or secondary dominants in a very complex modal language.

Far o’er low bend,
Crazy, all spent
Sits, me-a detained
Languishing hoper
I reach, always too far
But never far enough
I put myself out just
To be ignored,
Ignored, when I love optimism more than you,

My smile, always in vain,
Mirrored through your face:
Showing you what they want
Without a trace of hate
Only a glare,
And before you turn away,

I give a prompt,
Hoping your mind will dance,
Though you are always swamped
And you won’t take a chance,
To be enthusiastic about life with (chromatic) me,
“Why have you interest in things? Why not accept that we’re bored?” You say,

And you turn away,
As unemotional
As a half,
Forgotten song,
Like a ship at sea my heart sank,
Knowing that your sense of fun was bleak.

Many years later, I acquired a new voice
giving me choice of finally finding yourself

I reach, always too far
But never far enough
I put myself out just
To be ignored,
When I love optimism more than you,
More so than you,
When I first met you I couldn’t see
Clearly, and that was exciting,
It was a time where we enjoyed
Life,
Then we found out
Our ideas of adventure
Were contradictory,

I changed for you and I
Wouldn’t have changed for me
If I had known that joy
For you cannot arrive at the right time,

And before you turn away,
I give a prompt,
Hoping your mind will dance,
Though you are always swamped
And you won’t take a chance,
To be enthusiastic about life with (chromatic) me

Oh my beloved,
Find me at last,
Your eyes, your mein, declare complacency everywhere!